Bad Day
by LirilaiNatural
Summary: The song 'Bad Day' is one of my favourites. And I decided Cas would like it, then this happened


Cas stomped into his living room and flopped heavily onto the couch after throwing his suit jacket and trenchcoat onto a chair. His day had been completely and utterly shit from start to finish.

His boss was being an ass (even more so than usual, that is) because Castiel was getting a promotion and his boss, Zachariah, didn't get one.

The reasons for which are blatantly obvious with the way Zach treats everyone in his team. If one of them wants or needs something he'd huff and flap and act like it was the worst thing in the world to make him actually do his job as a manager, yet he'd spend hours standing around and talking to his manager buddies in the office and wandering around to get coffee and snacks. Only for those that were stuck so far up his ass that they only saw the sun when he spoke though.

Or he'd waste time even just going for a slow walk around the floor with a vaguely purposeful stride to avoid doing any work, and when approached on these wanders and asked to do something he'd complain loudly about how he "has a lot of work to do and can't believe his team can't sort things out for themselves".

Cas scowled at the memory, having been on the receiving end of that many times, and kicked off his shoes, sighing as his feet sunk into the soft rug in front of him.

He then scowled more as he remembered that the rest of his day had been equally as terrible.

He was late out the door that morning, so missed the bus to work which meant he had to skip breakfast when he got there, and his stomach had been grumbling all morning. He then discovered that he'd left his lunch at home (and this part was doubly insulting because it was Dean's lasagne, his friend made amazing lasagne) so he had to buy lunch at work.

Which, okay, wasn't as bad because he'd missed breakfast so had a few dollars spare because of that, but even so, it was the principle of it.

He'd chosen to have fries, but they were soggy and not very satisfying, so half way through the afternoon he'd had to use a break to dash to the coffee shop across the road and get a pastry to tide him over till home time.

Then he'd been stuck late at work because of a back-log of things that Zachariah couldn't be bothered to help him with, and he'd had to ask another team manager to give him a hand, which lead to Zachariah taking him into one of the back rooms and asking whether everything was alright.

Cas swore he nearly made the man cry. Which meant that the next few weeks before his promotion kicked in were going to be hell.

So, of course, because he'd missed his usual bus home he'd missed Dean before he had to leave for his evening shift at the bar and couldn't rant at his best friend till he got home.

To go with everything, Castiel's phone had died that morning so he couldn't even text Dean to apologise for wasting his lasagne. If nothing else to get a stupid remark back that would have cheered him up and kept him going for an hour or so, at least.

And after that he'd just make another comment to get more relief. Dean always knew when Cas was having a bad day.

It was the benefit of being friends for five years, the two of them found each other in college and that was it, friends for life.

Even though Cas had had the biggest crush on Dean since the first time his green eyes met Castiel's blue ones, but that was besides the point. Cas didn't want to ruin what he and Dean had so had kept quiet.

He nearly mentioned it early on in their friendship, but Dean didn't used to be one for long-term relationships and Cas would rather have him as a friend than as nothing, so kept his crush to himself.

Not that that meant the crush went away.

Castiel sighed and plugged his phone in to charge, he moved to the kitchen to make something to eat and give his phone time to get enough charge to be turned on.

A note on the fridge caught his eye as he entered the other room, he frowned slightly and tilted his head as me moved closer to read it.

_"Cas,_

_Not hungry today? After I slaved away to make you this? I'm hurt. Assbutt._

_It's in the fridge if you want it when you get home, you forgetful idjit._

_And remember to charge your phone, man. What's the point in having it if I can't bother you when you're at work?_

_Dean_

_x"_

Cas felt his mood brighten a little as he opened the fridge and found the piece of lasagne sat on the shelf, he put it in the microwave and set it to a minute while he got himself a glass of juice.

The machine pinged, and Cas got the food out, separated it into quarters, then put it back in for another minute to get heat to the centre too. He sipped at his juice as he stared out the window, the trees swaying gently in the wind and clouds racing across the sky.

Castiel felt almost happy again when the microwave pinged the second time, and a smile split his face as he smelled the lasagne when he carefully transferred it from the plastic tub and onto a plate, dropping the tub in the sink to wash later.

He moved back to the living room to turn his phone on before sitting back down on the sofa, this time carefully balancing the lasagne on his knee while he channel hopped to find something to watch, settling on one of the film channels as it was showing Star Trek.

Dean would be rather proud of his choice.

His phone buzzed next to his elbow and Cas glanced at it, he saw the message icon flashing at the top of it before it went dull again and sighed as he unlocked it one handed while still eating, seeing a little '6' next to the text icon.

Five texts were from Dean, and one was from Gabriel.

Gabe's just said congrats on the promotion, and that he'd come over soon to celebrate but it had to wait till the next weekend 'cos of being hounded by his own work at the moment.

Cas could understand that, Gabe ran his own small coffee shop and it was a miracle if he could get the couple of people who worked for him to work when he wasn't there, they were of the opinion that if their boss didn't do any work then they shouldn't have to.

Not that they did much work anyway, Gabe was in the process of hiring new people but couldn't get rid of the two that were there till he did.

Sadly.

Cas fired off a quick thanks and an apology for not replying sooner, explaining about forgetting to charge his phone and promising to ring tomorrow when on his lunch.

The first text from Dean read:

_"Dude, you've forgotten your lunch. I swear your memory is like a sieve. Put it in your bag the night before why don't you! Or don't. 'Cos then you'd forget your whole bag :P x"_ Cas snorted and moved to the next text.

_"Feel like you need this: I just saw a magpie attack about ten pigeons. Dude it was intense! It was like that fight scene from The Matrix where the million Mr Anderson's are trying to put the beat-down on Neo. x"_

Castiel smiled at the image and felt the familiar warmth in his chest that always seemed to appear when Dean knew when he was having a bad day, even without Cas having to say so.

_"The magpie just attacked a cat. A CAT, CAS. (I didn't just type your name twice then.)"_ Cas snorted,_ "I think this thing might be like the things in 28 days later. Or was it Resident Evil... Either way, I think I'm gonna make a suit of armour to leave the house in. x"_

Cas laughed openly at that, knowing that the only thing they had to make armour was tin foil. Though Cas was fully convinced that Dean would make a suit out of that if he had to.

_"SO YOU'VE HAD A BAD DAY, YOU'RE TAKING ONE DOWN, YOU SING A SAD SONG JUST TO TURN IT AROUND. There's your tune for the day. You're welcome. x"_

Cas hummed the song as he moved on to the next text, it was one he'd always thought of as a favourite, maybe even his actual favourite. Even more so when Dean had sung it on karaoke one night after Cas first got into Zachariah's team and discovered almost instantly how horrible he was.

No one else seemed to, they all thought he was really nice and helpful. Though no one else had to deal with him as a boss; Cas' whole team had come to hate him. It was bliss on the days he decided to just not show up.

_"Would you remember to charge your phone? I don't wanna have to panic all day thinking you could get hurt and not be able to contact me 'cos you've no battery. And don't give me that 'I know your number' bull 'cos even if you do what happens if you're not conscious? Huh? Yeah. Shit on your parade didn't I? Text me as soon as you get this thing charged. Please, Cas. x"_

Cas smiled fondly, the last text was listed as arriving just after his lunch break. The first one had appeared after he'd been in work an hour, and the next ones at random intervals, though the one for the song had apparently arrived when he'd gone on his morning break.

Dean had awesome timing, when Cas' phone wasn't dead. Cas grinned and fired off a quick text, _"not dead. x"_ and finished off his food before moving to the kitchen to clean up.

He heard his phone ping as he scrubbed at the plate and tub that had kept his lasagne waiting for him and grinned, wondering whether it would have been Gabe or Dean responding to his text but secretly knowing it was more likely to be Dean. Gabe would be ignoring his phone at this time of evening.

Castiel finally loosened his tie as he flopped back on the sofa and lay his legs out along the length of it, unbuttoning the top couple of buttons on his shirt as he did.

He opened up the text and laughed loudly at Dean's response, _"ONE WORD SHERLOCK. THAT'S ALL IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN. Good to know, though. Enjoy your 'lunch'? :P x"_

Cas fired off a confirmation and an apology before dropping the phone onto his chest and settling to watch the end of the movie, noting with a grin that there seemed to be a marathon on as after the film ended there was a full series playing back to back.

He didn't watch TV often, but when he did Cas found gold.

* * *

Dean arrived home around eleven and quietly opened the door, he heard the TV on but had a feeling that Cas had fallen asleep on the sofa.

He peered around the door and saw that his suspicions were correct.

Dean smiled softly at Cas' messy hair sticking up in all directions from him wriggling in his sleep to get comfortable on the sofa, he hung up Cas' trenchcoat and his own leather jacket before moving into the kitchen to fix himself a snack.

He wandered to his room munching on his sandwich and picked his guitar up, he crept back into the living room and tuned it quietly while he waited for Cas to stir. Dean grinned at the Star Trek on the TV, playing his guitar at a level below the sound of the show while he practised the song he'd been teaching himself.

Cas stirred and slurred his name slightly, Dean's smile softened as he turned to watch Cas wake up, laughing a little at the confused look on his face till he glanced at the clock.

"Oh..."

"'Oh' is right, sleepy head," Dean grinned, "I guessed you weren't gonna have much of a good day when you left your lunch behind."

Castiel mumbled an agreement as he rubbed his eyes and focussed on Dean properly, "oooh guitar's out, what's the occasion?"

Dean shrugged bashfully, "just been teaching myself something, wanted you to turn your expert ear to it and see if it sounds like it should?"

Cas turned off the TV and turned to face Dean properly, Cas smiled encouragingly and nodded to Dean to begin when he was ready.

Dean gulped and... Blushed? No, Cas was still tired. He was seeing things.

He strummed he guitar and fidgeted a little, getting himself comfortable before propping the guitar against his leg properly and settling down, he closed his eyes and strummed a couple of chords before taking a deep breath and starting properly.

"Where is the moment we needed the most,

You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost,

You tell me your blue skies fade to grey,

They tell me your passion's gone away,

And I don' need no carryin' on,"

Castiel gaped at Dean, not once in all the years of knowing him had he ever learned someone's favourite song all the way through on guitar, Dean just played them ones he liked, so it 'wasn't horrible to learn them', yet here he was singing the entirety of Cas' favourite song.

Or one of them, at least.

But the most important favourite.

And Dean was playing it. For him. Castiel had glanced down to the floor as he listened to Dean play, he was staring at the space between Dean's feet as he listened to the music, and Dean's voice, gently weave through the song and come to an end.

Cas was quiet for a while after Dean had finished and Dean coughed self-consciously.

"Wow, if it was that bad just give me the blow, Cas," Dean laughed slightly and Castiel looked up to his face to see him awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck with a blush, which turned to concern when he caught sight of the tears building in Cas' eyes, "hey, are you okay?"

Cas laughed slightly and rubbed at his eyes, leaving his face in his hands as he replied, "yeah, yeah," he managed to huff out, "I, uh, had a bit of a bad day." he heard Dean snort as he smiled and put the guitar down, then felt the sofa dip as Dean sat down next to him and threw his arm around Cas' shoulders.

"No shit, Sherlock."

"Fuck you Watson." Dean laughed as he pulled Cas tighter and Cas' head flopped onto Dean's shoulder as he sighed, "sorry, Dean. I just... I don't know how I'm gonna be able to put up with Zach being as insufferable as he is being. It's only gonna get worse after what happened today."

Cas felt Dean's frown without having to see his face, it was handy knowing him so well, "what happened?"

Castiel recounted Zach coming up to him and saying "I think we need to have a chat," and the panic Cas had felt that Zach was gonna say that Cas was being let go, even though Zach wasn't technically in charge of that any more due to Cas moving into a different department in a couple of weeks, and being taken into a back room.

Dean snorted as Cas told him how he almost made Zach cry, even though Castiel hadn't even been mean about what he said, he just explained that it didn't seem like Zachariah liked anyone on his team, and didn't seem to be willing to put half the effort into them as the other team managers did, and they had no obligation towards Cas' team at all.

Cas felt Dean's hand smooth up and down his back in gentle swipes as he told the story, and smiled softly as it eased the tension away.

"Well, it's only gonna be a couple of weeks, Cas, then you'll be rid of that demon." Cas snorted and laughed slightly into Dean's shoulder, he felt Dean's smile against the top of his head when Dean dropped his cheek onto Cas' hair, "and in the mean time, I can help you to prank him to high heaven."

Castiel laughed and could feel the pride rolling off Dean in waves, even though he deflated when Cas said that would be a bad idea as Zach would know who it was and probably still be able to get him sacked.

Dean mock-pouted and Cas laughed again, shoving him slightly but Dean stayed with his arm around Cas and their sides pressed together with a grin.

"So! You never said, how was it?" Dean asked nervously, his infamous bad-boy grin on his face to cover up how worried he was, which would have fooled anyone but Cas. And maybe Sam.

"It was perfect, Dean," Cas smiled and turned his head towards him, his stomach doing a flip as he realised their lips were only a couple of inches apart, "it was exactly what I needed, too. Thank you."

"You're welcome," Dean said softly, the worry easing from his face with a gentle smile as he reached up and poked Cas' nose.

Castiel laughed and knocked his hand away, but Dean grabbed hold of it and his face turned serious, "I love you, you know that, right?"

Cas thought his stomach just tore itself from his body it lurched that hard, he gulped and smiled shakily, "of course, Dean, we're practically family and-"

"No, Cas," Dan said twisting his chest towards Castiel properly, "like, I mean... Not-like-a-brother kind of love."

"Oh? Oh..." Cas felt like his heart had stopped, Dean looked like he was holding his breath and watching Castiel's reaction nervously, his emerald eyes flicking quickly between Cas' sapphire ones and his tongue darting out to lick his lip. Cas traced the movement with his eyes and blinked a couple of times at Dean.

"Of course, y'know, if you don't feel that way back that's fine," Dean laughed nervously, "I'd rather have you as a friend if nothing more but just, know that I do. Love you, I mean."

Dean went to move away and Cas surged forwards, clumsily kissing Dean's lips before pulling back and blushing deeply, "I, uh, I love you too, Dean."

It was Dean's turn to freeze, his eyes wide as he stared at Cas and his face slowly split into a smile as he cupped Cas' cheek with his hand and stroked across his cheekbone gently with his thumb.

"Really?"

"Really, really." Dean snorted but pulled Cas into another kiss, gently slotting their lips together and tightening the arm that was around his shoulders.

Cas found his hands moving, one straying to Dean's hip and the other twisting into the hairs at the back of Dean's head, the both of them gently angling the other's head to be able to kiss more deeply, the speed never moving from the gentle slide that they had started with.

They finally pulled apart with a soft sigh and rested their foreheads together, Dean laughed slightly and Cas frowned, opening his eyes and seeing Dean's almost shining with happiness in their dark apartment.

"I can't believe I've waited so long to tell you that, man. I've been falling for you for like, two years now but I didn't want you to be weirded out."

"Only two years? Dean, get in line. I've been crushing on you since we first met." Dean gaped at Cas as Cas' face crinkled into a smile, "yeah, beat you there, assbutt."

Dean moved back and laughed loudly, the sound seeming to ripple through his whole body as Cas watched him fondly.

"Say it again?" He said quietly when Dean stopped laughing, Dean smiled at him fondly.

"I love you, Castiel."

Cas smiled brightly and kissed Dean gently, "I love you too, Dean."

Suddenly getting through work with Zach being an ass for the next two weeks didn't seem like such a hard thing.


End file.
